ATLAS annual conference 2009 |
|
|
Experiencing Difference
|
|
Aalborg University, Denmark, 27 - 29 May 2009 |
ATLAS annual conference 2009 |
|
|
Experiencing Difference
|
|
Aalborg University, Denmark, 27 - 29 May 2009 |
First announcement
Index
Time and placeThe conference will take place in the city of Aalborg, North Jutland, Denmark, in the period:
The conference be organised by Tourism Research Unit at Aalborg University, and is supported by the ExCITe,Centre for Experience Economy, Creative Industries and Technologies.
Conference website: http://www.atlas-euro.org/
Aalborg University Tourism Research Unit website: http://turisme.aau.dk/
up
Conference themesAbstracts for presentations are invited on the following themes / streams:
Experiences have always been a central part of tourism - from the educational pursuits of the 17th century Grand Tours and up until extreme sport endeavours of the present day. What seems to have changed most significantly within recent years is, however, the efforts and ingenuity that tourism marketers put into creating experience possibilities that set their tourism destination, attraction, accommodation facility or other types of tourism services apart from competitors' and make their offers the favoured choice among tourists. And though the tourism experience is personal - a marriage between expectations, actual encounter and memories - the tourism marketer still has the possibility to heavily influence the experience in a given direction provided that market research has been central in forming the experience offer. A market-driven approach as described here, or outside-in approach in which the market determines the offers of the destination or attraction, may, however, be questioned, as it can be argued that tourism marketers should rather focus on developing experience possibilities that are closely tied to the identity and cultural heritage from which they originate. Hence an inside-out approach is also traceable in the experience literature which is tied up closely with the discussions on authenticity that repeatedly appears in a tourism context. Rather than seeing these two approaches as incompatible opposites, it may make more sense to seem them as the two ends on a continuum, which also suggests that various degrees of combinations of the two may be adopted both by scholars and practitioners.
The theme of the 2009 annual ATLAS conference has been inspired by this recent surge of interest in tourism and experiences, and papers will reflect the many different roles of experiences in tourism.
up
Call for papersThe theme of the 2009 annual ATLAS conference has been inspired by the recent surge of interest in tourism and experiences, and papers are expected to reflect the many different roles of experiences in tourism. Abstracts for presentations are invited on the following streams:
1. Changing tourist experiences
If experiences have always been a central part of tourism - from the educational pursuits of the 17th century Grand Tours and up until extreme sport endeavours of the present day - to what extent are experiences new reasons to go from the perspective of tourists? What role does the tourist see him/herself as having in the experience, how does past tourist experiences influence tourist preferences and behaviour, and how does the quest for authenticity relate to the notion of experience? Papers in this stream will include perspectives from sociology, consumer studies, leisure studies and cultural studies, but are also likely to explore the interplay between supply and demand in shaping new directions in tourism experiences.
2. Tourist enterprises and production of experiences
The increasing focus on providing experiences as a selling point rather than just services creates a pressure on private firms to innovate in terms of products and branding, and these pressures are likely to be handled differently by large, small and micro enterprises, depending on the cultural setting and the character of the tourist product (nature-based, cultural, events-based, etc.). At the same time the issue of demand for experiences is also salient: what do firms know about their prospective customers' preferences, including those who may want the tourism offer to stay 'the way it has always been'? Papers in this stream will include perspectives from marketing, business studies and hospitality studies, but are also likely to include approaches which focus on the role of customers in producing experiences and innovation.
3. Destination management organisations and experience development
The notion of experience development can function as a convenient buzzword for destination management organisations who can strengthen their role as coordinators of fragmented tourism offers through by supporting networks, hallmark events, place branding and private-sector innovation and entrepreneurialism. A focus on experiences may be able to build bridges between a wide range of activities have not traditionally been associated tourism, such as fashion, architecture, design, sport, edutainment, but may also help to blur further the line between tourism and leisure as social activities. Papers in this stream will include perspectives from policy studies and organisational studies, but are also likely to include other approaches to the creation of public-private partnerships and their role in the making of tourist experiences.
4. Local experiences of tourism
With the conscious creation of 'experience places', is tourism becoming ever more invasive from the perspective of the everyday lives of local inhabitants, or does the new destinations involve physical or mental segregation between tourists and locals? Issues of place attachment and a local sense of cultural heritage and authenticity are potentially in conflict with the creation of innovative tourism experiences, but at the same time also in many cases a provider of additional jobs and income. Papers in this stream will include perspectives from geography, sociology and cultural studies.
5. Analytical perspective on experiences in tourism and leisure studies
What are the consequences of different scientific approaches (e.g. economic, sociological) for the understanding of experiences? And, not least, after the dust of the debates has settled, what is new, useful and exciting compared to existing ways of conceptualising tourism? Papers in this stream are likely to be interdisciplinary in their outlook, although often reflecting on the role of experiences in particular parts of the literature.
Abstracts should be submitted to ATLAS before February 15th 2009 using the form at this website which will be available soon.
up
Conference setting
|
Aalborg is the capital of North Jutland, the main international summer holiday region of Denmark, and a city which has undergone a rapid transition from traditional industries towards a high-tech and service-oriented economy. Aalborg was founded by the Vikings alongside the largest Danish fjord, and today Scandinavia's largest Viking burial place competes with the sardine-tin-style Aalborg Tower in providing the best view over a city in which the experience economy in the shape of a burgeoning conference industry, video games production, and one of the longest streets of bars in Europe, Jomfru Ane Gade. See the city's website http://www.visitaalborg.com for further information and http://www.visitnordjylland.dk for the region's official tourism website. |
|
 |
The conference will take place at the main campus of Aalborg University which since 1974 has played a major role in reshaping Aalborg and the region of North Jutland by producing a steady stream of graduates, and undertaking research and development projects in collaboration with local firms on the basis of innovative research profiles in engineering, social science and the humanities. The social programme of the conference will make full use of the city and its facilities as a backdrop for what will hopefully be an interesting and pleasurable experience. |
  |
up
More information
up
